Race with Time and War
by 1-Psycho-Kitty
Summary: Rin is catnapped. Yes, catnapped by cat demons. Naraku sends Rin to a world where three days here is ten years there. The Almightly Fluffy comes to save little Rin. So what happens when little Rin ain't so little? Surprise surprise...
1. Catnapped?

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha or any other characters created by Rumiko Takahashi on the manga.

I got my hand smacked by Bad authoress! Bad, ebil, icky, authoress! I posted late because my computer decided not to work with the Internet…. I want to apologize to the people who read this before. I wasn't having my stuff edited so I hope this one doesn't have so many mistakes.

Chapter One:

Catnapped?

"Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin asked as she trotted behind her lord faithfully.

"Yes?"

"May Rin go look for food?"

Sesshomaru looked at the setting sun and realized Rin had not eaten since morning.

"Jaken," Sesshomaru said coolly.

"Y-yes milord?"

"You shall setup camp in that cave up there and you will provide Rin with food."

Jaken nodded and ran off as quickly as his little legs could carry him to the cave.

Thirty minutes later, Rin was chugging down some fried rice and fish. Jaken sighed and fell over with exhaustion from setting up camp and preparing Rin a meal.

Rin clapped her hands together and slightly bowed as she said in a grateful tone, "Thank you master Jaken for the meal."

"I did it because Lord Sesshomaru doesn't feel like wasting his time burying a starved—to—death—child."

Jaken quickly cleaned the plates, set out the blankets, and rekindled the fire before falling asleep.

Rin was now very drowsy and crawled over and sat down by Sesshomaru's feet. He was sitting on a log and Rin was leaning against his legs with his boa wrapped around her.

"Rin?"

"Yes Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin covered her mouth as she yawned.

"You consumed more the required of a mortal your age."

Rin abruptly lost the dreamy look in her eye as she looked up at him. "Is Rin eating Lord Sesshomaru's share of food?"

If it had been any other, they would of thought it heartwarming for the child to show such loyalty—but this is Sesshomaru.

"You didn't inform Jaken of your hunger," Sesshomaru said calmly. "Why is this?"

"Rin...wants to become strong and less burden to Lord Sesshomaru," Rin said, looking up at him with eagerness to please. "Rin will train hard and become very useful to Lord Sesshomaru! Rin promises."

"Human emotions." There was a hint of disgust in his voice.

"Master Jaken says that Rin puts you through much trouble and needs to behave."

"Sleep."

Rin jumped up and ran over the pile of blankets. "Good night Lord Sesshomaru!"

So Jaken was the one who put the thought into her head about being a burden. He would punish him in the morning. Not that he cared about Rin or anything; he just felt like beating up someone and he and wanted a good excuse.

Sesshomaru leaned against the stone wall. He would only have to cope with the human until they reached the village. A priestess would be there and take care of Rin. The servant girl would be better off becoming a miko anyway.

Sesshomaru wouldn't risk growing fond of her. His seven hundred something year-old father had married a human none older then twenty-four; his half brother soon to a fifteen.

Suddenly, an out of the blue thought popped into his head: why did he take care of the human?

It was respect. This human had earned the right to have a small quantity of his respect.

Not fondness, but respect. He would never let that "respect" turn into a foolish human emotion. He slowly fell asleep thinking of the stupidity of his father and half brother.

Two hours later...

Everyone was asleep and the fire was almost dead. Some kind of smoke was slowly drifting into the cave. A tiny snake demon slithered into the cave and made it's way toward Rin.

"Hurry up," whispered a tiny voice from up top.

"Shut up! You're sure bossy for a rat."

"The smoke will only work so long. Naraku won't be happy." The bat demon's eye was slightly twitching. "I'm a bat!"

"Whatever."

The r—bat demon noticed Sesshomaru stirring and fled quietly.

The snake's fangs came out as he readied himself to strike his victim.

"Time to die girl…" the demon said raising it's body over Rin. "You'll taste so—"

Splat!

Sesshomaru looked down in disgust at what was left of the body.

"Jaken," Sesshomaru said coolly. "Jaken!"

"Lord?" Jaken asked wiping the drool off his cheek. He sleepily looked around before stopping suddenly at the bloody mess. "What happened!"

"Snake demon somehow got in by using some kind of smoke. I smell a bat demon too. Take care of Rin. If I find one scratch on her...you will die," and with that said, Sesshomaru ran after the bat.

Jaken quickly cleaned up the remains of the snake and tried to wipe the guts off Rin.

Rin woke up when she felt a rough, wet, warm cloth rubbing on her arm.

"Master Jaken?" Rin said sitting up and noticing she was covered in something unpleasant. "What is this stuff and where's Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin began to look down at the warm, wiggling guts on her arms.

"Youkai snake guts. Lord Sesshomaru went after the other one who tried to kill you."

Rin's eyes went as big as boiled eggs. "Killed? You mean the youkai attempted to murder Rin?"

"Yep, now lets go down to the stream and wash you off."

By the time Rin was squeaky clean and her kimono cleaned and dry, Sesshomaru had come back.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" Jaken said running over to greet his lord. "Rin is asleep and unharmed."

Sesshomaru sniffed the air silently and noticed Rin smelled very clean.

"Did you leave this cave?" he asked flatly.

Jaken began to cough nervously. "Rin woke up and she was covered in guts. Didn't want to attract other demons..."

"Can I trust you to protect Rin till morning?" Sesshomaru said keeping his face cold. "I need to go take care of some unfinished business between a flying rat."

"Yes," Jaken said bowing so low, his nose touched the ground. "I will protect Rin with all my strength. My last breath will be used in protecting the mortal.

"Anyone in a mile radius will turn into boiling lard. The Staff will make demons everywhere tremble. With the Staff of Two Head's power and my cunning— Lord Sesshomaru? Where'd he go!"

XxX

One hour later...

Four amber eyes glistened in the moonlight.

"You ready?" asked the neko youkai from the tree.

"As ready as I'll ever be! I'll get the girl and you deal with the frog."

"Why do I get the frog?"

"Because your the guy and get to do the dirty work. That's what you said to Naraku."

"All I said was males are better then flea-males."

"Look, we'll argue about this later. We need to focus on getting in and out."

The cat demon nodded, jumped off the tree, and sped down to the cave.

XxX

"Who are you!" Jaken said yelling.

"I'm Fang and this is my _sister_, Tyke. You may call her Ty or baka."

"Hey, I'm not a baka!"

Jaken looked at them both. They were certainly not from around here.

The one named Tyke had on a demon slayer outfit just like the girl with InuYasha, but she had a belt around her waist; held a large collection of needles. She had claws and what looked to be a mix of brown and red hair.

Her so—called brother wore black, baggy pants and a black shirt. He also had a belt full of needle and wore a long sword at his side.

"What are you doing here!"

"We are here for the girl Naraku calls Rin. We'll be taking her to him so if you don't mind..." Ty pursed her lips as she tapped her foot impatiently.

"Over my dead body!" Jaken said banging the staff of two heads out in front of them.

"As you wish," Fang said sighing in disappointment. He then threw something down which exploded, leaving the cave clogged with smoke.

Jaken started to scream and was about to us the staff when he heard the girl say, "If you use it, you'll set us all on fire. It's a special gas that is _very_ flammable. We'll survive... but I'm not sure how human skin will do."

Jaken felt something stick into his neck and blacked out.

XxX

Lord Sesshomaru came onto the site and tried to remain calm. He bent down over Jaken and pulled three very thin needles out of his neck.

"Jaken, wake up," Sesshomaru said kicking him roughly. "You're not dead! They only hit a pressure point."

"Huh? Oh Lord Sesshomaru! They took Rin!"

"Don't think I see that?" he snapped out, snarling viciously.

"They were two cat demons working for Naraku," Jaken said picking up his staff. "Their names were Tyke and Fang. Do you know of them?"

"Only Naraku," Sesshomaru said running off after the scent.

XxX

"Did you bring the girl?"

"Yes," Fang said bowing.

Ty was cradling the girl in her arms as she brought her forward.

Fang noticed the look in her eyes. "Naraku, we have brought you what you asked for. Give us what we want."

"Kagura, will take the child and what you seek is sitting over there."

Ty handed the girl quickly over to Kagura and ran to the tiny child lying on a square pillow.

Fang lifted his tiny sister off the pillow. "Dead."

Tears were streaming down Ty's face as she looked at her lifeless sister.

"You said if we brought you the girl you'd give us something to help her! You promised to take away her pain," Tyke said ripping out her brother's sword.

"I did," Naraku said chuckling. "She's been injected with poison, which put her out of misery."

Tyke snarled and charged at Naraku, only to be blocked by a purple barrier. Soon, a smoke engulfed Ty and Fang. They suddenly found themselves in a forest clearing. Tyke let the sword fall from her hands as she stood there.

Fang was still holding lifeless Hikari, too shocked to do anything but stare. Ty started to cry bitterly as she slowly sunk down to her knees.

Tyke stopped crying when she saw a small girl with white hair walk forward. She handed Ty a small packet, which had a note, pinned to it. Tyke examined the packet; it was a red powder with a swirl of blue.

Ty opened the note and read:

_The girl is still alive; poison put her in a paralyzing state. Mix this powder with some water and make her drink it all. Do it before sundown and she'll come back and her sickness cured. I do this only because I promised you the potion and will keep it. Just know, your not the only one who despises Naraku._

_Signed,_

_Kagura._

Ty handed the note to her brother and pried his arms off Hikari's cold form. She looked down at her sister and wondered how she could be alive and look so dead.

"Well, what are we waiting for!" Fang jumped up with enthusiasm. You could feel the energy coming off him. It was an odd eagerness.

"Could be a trick."

"Well, if this is a trick, Hikari is already dead and we have nothing to lose!"

Ty nodded and ran to fetch some water. She came back a couple minutes later with a pot, three teacups, a sack of food, tiny kimono, and a nice blanket.

Fang took the pot filled with water and placed it over the fire. They were soon trying to get the liquid down her mouth. When they had finished, they placed her on the blanket and waited for something to happen.

XxX

Kagura placed the girl on the bed and slowly put a drink into her mouth.

She pulled the three needles out of Rin's neck with ease saying, "So that's how they kept her asleep: pressure points. Won't need that now, since the spells on her."

"Is all going well?" Naraku asked from behind, making Kagura slightly jump.

"Yes, she will be in another world in a matter of minutes. The spell will keep her there for ten years."

"That's all?"

"I'm making the spell for fifty years right now."

"Retell me how this will work. If you don't answer it precisely how I had you memorize it, I will kill you."

Kagura shifted her body weight to the other foot nervously. "Her body will stay here while she goes to another world," she said in monotone. "She will stay there for ten years and her body will change into that of a seventeen year-old."

"How long will it take?" he asked mockingly.

"Three days in our world."

"Is this an actual world or is it a dream world?"

"It's an actual world but just like there's different time zones, there's different year zones."

"So when she wakes up... you'll give her the next spell to make her an old hag."

"Yes, and then you can easily kill her or she'll already be dead. Are you sure Sesshomaru's heart will break by this?"

"She's his property and he will protect it. It'll sting his pride to know he couldn't save her. It will not break his heart, idiot."

Rin jerked violently for a couple seconds. Kagura looked down at the girl. "She's there and it's starting to begin..."

XxX

"Rin, wake up."

"Huh? Who are you? Where's Lord Sesshomaru?"

"I'm Lady Kara."

"Lady Kara?" Rin said trying not to giggle. "Why do you have such a funny name?"

A/N: I _think_ Kara in Japan is thought of as a boy name.

"Because, I'm not from the same place as you are. We're in a different w— country.

"Oh..." Rin said looking around for Sesshomaru.

"I got a note from Lord Sesshomaru. It said I must take good care of you and am to train you."

"Where's Lord Sesshomaru?" she asked with a tremble in her voice.

"My dear, he left you here and went back to the Western Lands. I'm so sorry..."

"He left Rin!" she wailed.

"You will see him when you're done training. Don't cry dearie! He wanted you to become strong, that way you could help him when he needed it," the old woman said kindly. "Don't you wanna be able to help him?"

"Yes...Rin wants to be able to help him and never be a burden to him."

The woman smiled. "Good. We shall teach you how to speak properly too."

The girl cocked her head and gave her a confused look. "Rin speaks wrong?"

"Don't worry, I'll teach you how to read, write, speak properly, and other important things that you'll need to know as you get older."

"Rin will learn all of this?"

"Yes."

"How long will all this learning take?"

"It depends on how hard you work and if you pay attention."

"Rin will work very hard!"

The woman let out an odd chuckle. "Good. Your first lesson will be to fetch water everyday from the river."

Rin put on a fake smile and said with fake cheerfulness, "May Rin go down to the river right now?"

"Yes."

"Can you show Rin?"

"Follow your ears."

Rin cupped the water in her hands and splashed it onto her face. She looked down at her reflection and bursted out crying.

"Rin must be strong!" she said wiping her face. "Lord Sesshomaru would want Rin to be strong. We have to fight and work hard for what we want..."

XxX

Sesshomaru was halfway to Naraku's and was slowly getting there. If it hadn't been for the 900,000 demons blocking his path...

They were everywhere! In the sky and on the ground. Some were small while others were bigger then he! It seemed the more he killed the more came. His hair was now blood red and his clothes weren't so dry...

"Out of my way!" he growled as he sliced through another ten demons, gaining two steps.

They were all over him, some at his feet and others biting him on his arms. They just wouldn't stop and he was getting very annoyed. He couldn't flee either. The sky was filled with them and as far he could see, there were only demons.

"Naraku said if we can just kill him we'll get a piece of the Shikon no Tama," a snake demon said in the background.

Thanks to Sesshomaru's excellent hearing, he could pick up some of the conversation going on between his opponents.

"If we stay to the back and let these fools rush in, we'll be fine. Naraku just wants us to kill or keep him here so he can kill that wretch of a human girl Sesshomaru keeps around.

His eyes started to glow red and his hair began to rise. You could see the fangs forming and the claws growing...

"You fools!" he snarled in a deep voice.

XxX

"Rin! Where are you?"

"Here I am, Lady Kara," called eight year-old Rin.

"I want you to meet someone."

"Who?" Rin asked stepping into the hut.

"This is Seth, the monk's son," Lady Kara said while putting her hand on his shoulder. "Your next lesson is to learn social skills."

"What? Lady Kara! He's a boy and what of my learning?" Rin threw her arms up in despair. "How will this help me with Lord Sesshomaru?"

"Social skills are very important and you will play with this boy and the village kids when you're done with lessons."

"Hi," the boy said happily. "I'm Seth! I'm about to go to the village and play with the other kids. Kara said you have to come."

"It's Lady Kara, you disrespectful boy!" Rin said stomping her foot in indignation.

The boy crossed his arms and smirked. "Whatever, lets just go."

Rin sighed and followed the spiky, maroon haired boy out of the hut.

"Why do you carry a dagger at your side?" The sudden flash of a dagger in her brother's middle made her go quiet.

"To protect helpless girls from monsters."

"This isn't the way to the village…girls aren't helpless."

"How would you know?"

"I've lived here for a year and I'm training for Lord Sesshomaru." Rin's face began to darken as she stared off into space.

"We're going to the meadow to play," Seth said slowly. He was beginning to wonder how many times she had fallen on her head. "Why do you wanna train for this guy so much?"

"So I can be with him forever and kill his enemy."

"Who's his enemy?"

"Naraku, I must help him kill Naraku." She was repeating what Lady Kara had told her so many times before.

"Your only eight, a weakling."

"I will become stronger!" Rin said with a very fierce, but determined look in her liquid, brown eyes.

"You couldn't even take me on."

"I must obey Lady Kara. I must not kill this boy. I must obey Lady Kara. If I kill this boy, I'll be disobeying lady Kara. If I disobey Lady Kara, technically, I'll be disobeying Lord Sesshomaru. Because she is under his command to train me." Rin continually repeated this to herself while trying to restrain her hands from the boy's neck.

XxX

"Kagura!"

"Yes?"

"Why is Rin dressed in that huge kimono?"

"Because, when her body turns into that of a seventeen year-old, it ought to wear a kimono the size of a seventeen year-old."

"I see..."

A/N: Ha-ha idiot.

XxX

"Yo Rin!" Seth called cheerfully as he leaned against a tree.

He smiled smugly as she fell off the wooden pole with an "oof."

A head popped up over the pole. "Seth, I'm training!"

"The gang wants you down by the river."

"I'm trying to train!" Rin said as she climbed back onto the wooden pole.

"What are you supposed to be doing?"

"I have to balance on these pole things and keep one foot in the air. Right now I'm just trying to balance but later, I'll be able to jump from pole to pole," said the twelve year-old Rin. "If I achieve this, I will be able to one day accomplish backflips! Lady Kara said this—"

"Whoop de do! So you'll be able to do a flip!" Seth said throwing his hands to his sides. "Do you do anything else but train?"

"I play sometimes."

"Obviously not enough."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"How do you even know if this Sesshomaru guy will even want you back? There's obviously a reason he left you here."

Rin gave out a wild cry and jumped onto Seth; beating him with her bare fists. The sleeves of her white haori were flapping wildly as she repeatedly punched his nose.

Seth easily over powered her and sat on her waist and pinned down her wrists. He licked the blood running down his upper lip.

"What are you going to do now princess?" sneered the thirteen year-old.

Rin scowled and knew there was nothing really she could do. So she did the only logical thing; spit in his face...

XxX

I can only update on the weekend or every other. This story is getting somewhere so stay with me…

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha or any other characters created by Rumiko Takahashi on the manga.

RACE WITH TIME AND WAR copyright © 2005 by 1-Psycho-Kitty. All rights reserved.


	2. No pain, no gain

Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi the goddess owns InuYasha. This is my first fanfic.

I changed my Penname to 1-Psycho-Kitty so please, put the pitchforks down. I was known as Foxfire155 and this is my story. I've not stolen anything… Okay there was this one time I found a shiny bead on the floor of a shoe store and I took it. But I was six so…

Up till 3:00 A.M editing, revising, writing, and adding more stuff to this. I hope you like it. I'm so tired… Falls asleep

Chapter Two:

No pain, no gain.

Jaken was running over the hill and gasped at what he saw. There were hundreds of demon corpses everywhere! He shivered at the thought of his lord doing this.

"I must find Lord Sesshomaru before morning," he said determinedly.

Jaken walked on for another hour. He looked at the setting sun and sighed, he was tired and had given up on finding his lord before morning. His feet were aching so Jaken found a huge hole in an oak and fell asleep.

A/N: Ha! Loser…

Rin was happily reading a book on the old toppled tree in the woods. These moments of happiness were so rare for her. She was continually keeping it all in. Only expressing her sadness, anger, and confusion in her training. The sound of the running stream under her was so peaceful...

"Rin!" Seth had been watching her for the past twenty minutes.

"What Seth?" she asked wearily.

"Where've you been?"

"Hiding from you," the thirteen year-old answered flatly.

Seth gritted his teeth and remembered what Lady Kara had told him...

_"You must keep trying," Lady Kara said with a worried look on her face._

_"Every time I try she pushes us away! The girl obviously doesn't want friends."_

_"That's not true."_

_"She's a real bitch around-"_

_Lady Kara cut him off by hitting him over the head extremely hard with her fan._

_"Holy shit! What was that for?"_

_"Language!"_

_"Well, she's just really rude to my friends and acts…mean," he said squinting his eyes and giving a tight smile. "There, you happy? I didn't curse or nothin."_

_"That's a start. Please try. How would you feel if you were far away from home and everything was different? Nothing to remind you of home and the people who took care of you left without a sensible reason?"_

_"I'd be p- angry or sad. She sure doesn't look sad or angry to me." Seth hated these stupid sentimental talks with Lady Kara. It was either be sensitive and polite or feel the wrath of the ebil spoon._

_A/N: Do you even wanna know? _

_"That's because she's keeping it in and is confused."_

_"It's been six bloody years. How long can one stay confused?"_

_"I don't know, but if you can get her to just socialize with other—"_

_"Fine! But this is the last time I get yelled at by that chaotic bit- brat." _

Seth took a deep breath and asked cheerfully, "How come I haven't seen you around this month?"

"Because," Rin replied, "I've been hiding from you and your loser friends. You're only getting in the way of my training so…piss off."

"We're going to the village to have some fun. Do you want come?" Seth's eye was starting to twitch…

"No, because your type of fun is stupid."

"How so?" Seth said sitting by her on the tree. He was getting angrier by the second.

Rin scooted away nervously. "Stealing, drinking, and skipping training is not my type of fun. For a monk, you sure don't act like one."

"You can be," Seth said scooting over to her, "Such a..."

"A what?" she said scooting now to the end of the tree. "Can you back up? I'm going to fall into the water."

"That's the point," he said through gritted teeth.

"Get away! If you don't stop I'll..."

"You'll what?" Seth asked smirking. His anger had gotten the best of him. "Who's going to help you? That dork, Sesshomaru?"

Rin growled and roughly pushed him into the stream. He jumped up and began spitting out mud and particles of unknown green stuff.

He had that coming. He was supposed to be helping her, not pissing Rin off. He made himself recall all the times when Rin had shown him kindness.

Seth had managed to get back onto land without slipping. "We are called fools because of an emotion called love. We become happy while they turn to cold stone. Yet, we are still called the fools." He gave her a questioning look as he wiped mud off his arm. Seth was waiting for an answer.

Rin was now standing up and facing him. "Love is not a necessity. It causes more—"

Seth gripped her shoulders. "Are you happy Rin? Answer truthfully? Does living this way make you feel good?"

Like a child ashamed of fibbing, Rin turned away. "You just don't understand," Rin said in a whisper. "None of you understand. I screwed up here big time…I realize that. All I have is hope. And I hope I'll become strong enough so Lord Sesshomaru will come for me. Maybe then I can start fresh, go home, or spend the rest of my days serving my lord as Master Jaken does."

"Rin, you don't need—"

"But he left me here and I don't understand it!" The anger, hurt, and confusion in her voice made him shut up. She turned around and faced him with watery eyes. "I wanted to be strong…but I…I can't stay strong like him. I want to go home! I'm so tired of being alone."

Seth's face softened as he watched her cry. She really was alone. She was a bitch, but a very alone bitch nonetheless.

Seth put his hand on her shoulder and watched her sniffle. "If you would quit being an ass and look around, maybe you'd see the people here who love you. We've all done some crazy shit," Seth said slightly chuckling as he tried to lighten the dramatic mood.

"But what of my training...?"

"You really want to see this Jaken fellow and Sesshy guy, correct?"

"Yes," Rin said slightly sniffling.

"You don't have to give up everything to see him again. You can still have friends and train. You don't have to just pick one."

Rin sighed. "It's a little late for that. I think the only reason no one was slit my throat is because—"

"It's never too late. I once took the wish box out of the temple because I needed some money to gamble with. I took out the money and replaced it with Kip rocks. Father favors Tab and gave him the honor of guarding the wish box. Turns out there was to be a treaty…

Rin gave him that "you're such an idiot" stare.

A/N: Kip stones are a form of insult. The wish box can mean peace or enemy. If you receive a sacred wish box full of money it means peace etc. etc. if you get a wish box full of Kip stones, well do we get the drift?

"I told my father right before the ceremony what I'd done and also that the money had been lost playing Calla. He thanked me then gave me a licking I'll never forget."

A/N: Calla is like Poker.

"Well, I told him I'd have been better off not saying anything. Do you know what he told me? He said that if they'd gotten those Kip stones he'd of knocked the shit right out of me. My father is a man of his word. So you see, it's never too late."

Rin giggled. "That's really comforting Seth, just makes me feel a _whole_ lot better."

"I do what I can," he said modestly. "So do you want to join me and a couple of my friends?"

The smile left her lips. "I'm not sure if they'll be real enthusiastic about seeing me..."

"I know someone who won't be mean to ya. She's real sweet and gentle like. So you better be nice to her."

"I will Seth... What's her name?"

"Sera."

Rin smiled cheerfully for the first time in years. "Okay, lets go."

A/N: I'm sorry if you read this and thought it overly dramatic or very corny... I just wanted to make a point that Rin wasn't the happiest child. If you are really angered with this scene you have permission to slap me with a Swedish fish. With that said... Onward with the chappie.

XxX

Sesshomaru was almost to Naraku's and the demons had thinned a little bit. Now a huge dog, it was much easier to kill them.

"Out of my way!" he snarled as he smacked a good thirty-five demons with his paw.

A/N: He has two arms now because…it grew back. Okay that was lame but…lets see you come up with a better excuse.

XxX

Rin was now fourteen and banging a long wooden stick against a tree. Her muscles were sore and her hands raw. It had started to rain but she kept hitting the tree with all her might.

"I must keep going! If I can just learn this technique right..." Rin was abruptly pulled away from her thoughts when a certain boy called her name...

"Rin? Rin! Did you hear me?"

"I heard you Seth."

"It's raining, you do know that, right?"

"I'm training, don't bother me."

"Now when did torturing a tree solve anything?"

"I really don't want to talk to you right now."

"You really should take better care of your hands," Seth said grabbing them.

"Let go," she said screaming. Rin made a feeble attempt pull her hands back.

Seth ripped two long strips of her haori and wrapped it around the bloody, raw hands.

"There," he said.

"Thanks..."

"No problem," Seth said happily. "When are you going to learn about herbs and healing?"

"Dunno."

"When will your training be done?" he said trying really hard to act interested.

"I hope when I turn seventeen," Rin said now walking back to the hut.

"Do you have any other weapon besides your sword and dagger?"

"Nope."

"You should learn how to fight with needles."

"That would be fun."

"You could be asked to become an assassin and probably say that could be fun for all I know."

"Hey!"

"My grandfather could teach you though," he said twiddling his thumbs.

"Fine by me. Tomorrow I'll stop by and see if the old geezer can show me a few tricks."

Seth looked at her slyly and slightly jabbed her with his elbow. "I've rubbed off on you."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll show you. That guy you're training for?"

"You mean, Sesshomaru?"

"There you go."

Rin gave him the raised eyebrow and the partly opened mouth. "Okay... and this proves _what_ exactly?"

"You didn't say lord!" Seth said excitedly as he began to dance a weird jig. "Don't you remember when you first came here you were addressing everybody with a title?"

"Wow..."

"And you called my highly respected grandfather "old geezer" instead of master or whatever you used to say..."

"I never even realized it..."

"Good, because I like that you don't always address them with their full title. Makes them feel like they can't be real with you."

"Not just that!"

"What?" he said as he stopped dancing. There was a confused look on his face.

"That you dance like a headless less chicken that only has one leg and is wingless."

"That was really uncalled for," he said giving her that kind of blank bored "that wasn't very funny" stare.

"I'm hungry... Want something to eat?"

"Sure. Um, Rin?"

"Yeah?"

"When you come to my grandfathers...will you come alone?"

"Yeah..."

"So you're not going to bring anybody?" Seth looked down at his feet disappointedly.

"You mean, like Sera?" she asked with a smug look on her face.

Seth turned seven shades of red in five seconds. "No, I-I j-just wanted to know if any of your dumb, ugly, unattractive friends were going to bother me."

"So I guess you want me to tell Sera she can't come cause she's ugly?"

"No!" Seth said, now turning purple. "Don't tell her that! She already hates me from last time."

"You mean..." Rin said letting in a dramatic breath.

"Yeah..."

"Well, I'd be mad too! You ruined her brand new kimono. Then, you gave her your old hakama and haori to wear."

"It wasn't that bad..."

"Yeah, but you saying she looked like a man from afar and then you…" Rin shook her head. Guys were such idiots.

"Okay! Just have her come over so I can apologize!"

XxX

Sesshomaru had finally killed off all of the demons and the sun was setting. He was still in dog form as he crawled over the hill. He saw Naraku's castle in the distance. Sesshomaru slowly changed back and stood up shakily.

"I must get to the castle..." Sesshomaru said before losing consciousness.

XxX

"Say Rin?"

"Yeah?" she asked as she took another bite into the juicy apple.

Seth let his feet dangle from the bridge and let the cold water slightly try and pull him in with the current. "You never really told me exactly what Jaken was to you."

A/N: OMG! That sounded so wrong…

"You're not going to believe this," she said slightly splashing the water with her already soaked feet.

"Try me."

"I view Jaken as my foster father..."

"You view a tiny, green toad as your foster father?"

"Yep...and also..."

"And also?"

"I thought of Jaken as my foster mother."

Seth began laughing at the thought of Jaken being Rin's mommy. "Isn't Jaken like, a male?"

"Yep."

"Did he wear a lace bonnet and apron too?"

"No."

"Wait a sec, you thought of Jaken and your foster mother and father. What did you view Sesshomaru as?"

"As a god of some sort. I always imagined him some kind of king and we his loyal subject. Like a beautiful creamy white silk gown-"

"A silk gown?" Seth slowly turned his head to her and raised his eyebrow. "Poetic aren't we?"

"Shut up and let me finish!"

"Okay," he said trying to make his smile go straight.

"He was kind of like the creamy white silk gown and we the dirty fingers. He was not to be touched and always to keep a distance from."

"Oh..."

"Yeah..." Rin said taking a swig of beer.

"Hey, give me some of that."

Rin handed him the waterskin. "Seth?"

"Hm?"

"Have you told your father yet?"

Seth stopped drinking and looked at her with an almost angry face. "No, I haven't."

"Don't you think-"

"I plan on going up to the mountains and will live there."

"What about your duty?"

"Screw my duty."

Rin smiled and looked up at the full moon. "Ah yes, the first monk to break one of the Buddha statues and laugh."

"I don't know... I'm starting to think they're all wrong. That the world isn't flat and Bloody Mary won't kill you if you turn off the bathroom lights and shout her name three times."

Rin gave him a confused look. "Where'd that come from? Who's Bloody Mary?"

"I-I don't know," he said a little dazed. "I think it has something to do with me drinking half the beer in that nifty container of yours."

"Probably."

Xxx

It was late at night when Jaken stumbled across his wounded lord. There were bodies everywhere and the sight of it would make you puke on the spot. Everything smelled and watching the vultures and small animals digging in wasn't exactly a "pleasant" experience.

Jaken looked around with a grim look on his face when he saw flies buzzing around one of the dead worm demon's corpses.

"I must take care of him!" Jaken said sitting down by his lord.

A/N: And Jaken steals first with the corniest comment of the fanfic!

He spent the next couple hours bandaging him. Jaken even took the time to move some of the bodies away from his lord.

It was very late the next day when Sesshomaru woke up.

"What happened?"

"I found you almost dead milord." This one sentence put a nice dent in the Lord of the Western Land's ego. Anger boiled inside him. To think he had needed help from a toad...

Sesshomaru stood up but suddenly stopped. There was a wool blanket over him and his chest was bare…

"Where are my clothes?"

"When you transformed into a dog…" Jaken was digging through a leather bag. "I did recover the lost clothing, it's been washed and—"

Sesshomaru snatched the bag and calmly went to find a place to change—with the towel wrapped around his waist.

Once he was dressed he began to walk toward Naraku's castle; trying to let the shock of having had help soak in.

XxX

"Rin, it's late and you must come in now."

"Yes, Lady Kara," the seventeen year-old answered.

The old woman hugged her and started to sob. Rin was a little shocked and patted the old woman's back.

"Rin, your training is done."

"Do you mean...?"

"Yes, you may go home."

Rin gave a small but warm smile at the thought of seeing Jaken and Sesshomaru. She looked down at Lady Kara to see a quivering lip and sad eyes.

"I've learned so much from you and I never really thanked you properly," Rin said hugging her tightly. "Thank you for being so kind to me. You were like a grandmother to me and I will never forget the kindness you've shown me."

Lady Kara's tongue was trying very hard to betray her. The truth was trying to escape her lips and it took all her will power to remain quiet. To warn Rin what awaited her when she went back would be suicide.

Where would she take Rin when half of the village was Naraku's minions? At least when Rin got back she'd have a chance of running away…

"Rin, it's late and you should rest now. You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow."

"Yes, Lady Kara," Rin said smiling. "I must tell Seth the news."

"Seth... won't be able to make his goodbyes. He's in the mountains... hunting."

"Do you know when he'll be back?" She had a worried look on her face.

"I'm not sure child." Fresh tears were welling up in her eyes. She knew exactly why Seth wouldn't be here. They were probably torturing him right now...

"Well, do you know when exactly I'll be leaving?"

"By tomorrow or the next. No need to pack."

"Give Seth a good smack for me if he makes fun of Sesshomaru or if he teases Sera. I swear if he doesn't ask for her hand soon she'll be an old maid! So do make sure he does." Rin smiled happily and walked off to her room.

"I will," Kara, said whispering to herself with tears streaming down her face.

XxX

Sesshomaru quietly entered the castle. It was so still and empty, neither a good sign. He sniffed the air for Rin's scent. Following it all the way down a small corridor, which led to a black door.

Sesshomaru growled when he opened the door only to find a beautiful seventeen year-old girl peacefully slumbering...

XxX

I hope you guys liked that. Flamers go ahead and flame me until I'm as crisp as bacon. I like bacon. I would love to know how I could improve my writing. I know a lot of it was really dramatic or super corny. Sorry.

Gasps and now the really scary stuff at the bottom. My mother recommends I do this. The things I do to make others happy…

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha or any other characters created by Rumiko Takahashi on the manga. I do own a shiny penny… Thought you should know that.

RACE WITH TIME AND WAR copyright © 2005 by 1-Psycho-Kitty. All rights reserved.


	3. Surprise, surprise

Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi owns InuYasha.

I just want to warn my innocent readers. This chapter is a real dramatic one also kind of short. But don't hate me because it's not my fault! My sister's imaginary friend, Fred The Bear made me do it. If I didn't he would've scratched me with his imaginary sharp claws. So there…

Chapter Three

Surprise, surprise…

_Sesshomaru quietly entered the castle. It was so still and empty, neither a good sign. He sniffed the air for Rin's scent. Following it all the way down a small corridor, which led to a black door._

_Sesshomaru growled when he opened the door only to find a beautiful seventeen year-old girl peacefully slumbering..._

Sesshomaru silently walked over to her and sat on the edge of the bed. He rested his hand near her as he leaned forward. She smelled of a wonderful unknown scent. For some reason, he felt bad about killing her. This feeling of caring for a human stranger annoyed him. The solution? Kill. His claws started to glow green as he put them near her neck.

A red flag in his head went up and he stopped. He examined the girls face. Why did she look so familiar?

A shocked expression was seen one his face as he realized just who this girl was. "Rin?" he choked out.

Rin slowly fluttered her eyes and looked up at the silver haired man sitting by her.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" she said flinging her arms around him. "I trained so hard and I thought I would never see you again! I learned how to speak right and-"

"Rin?"

She stopped hugging him and gave a surprised look. "Who else would it be? It's been ten years! Did you think I'd still be seven?"

"Ten years?" Sesshomaru said growling. "Rin has only been gone for three days. Who are you? Tell me where the girl is and I shall make your death quick."

"It is Rin," Naraku said from the doorway.

Sesshomaru stood up calmly and looked at him with bored eyes.

"Naraku? How'd you get here? Where's Lady Kara?" Rin was starting to notice she wasn't in her room anymore...

"Hello Rin. My, what a beautiful young lady you've turned out to be." Naraku suddenly appeared from behind Rin.

"Naraku," Sesshomaru said in his normal cold tone. "You have insulted my intelligence and have tired to make a fool of me. This is impermissible and now—you shall die."

A/N: If you don't know what impermissible is that's okay. I didn't know till I looked it up in the one place I hate… The dictionary. (Luckily I looked it up in an online dictionary) It means unacceptable, not allowed, not permitted.

Naraku chuckled, acting like he didn't even hear him. "You know what a slumber spell is, right Sesshomaru?" Sesshomaru growled and Naraku put on a terse smile before continuing, "Where you can send someone to another world... Maybe it's only been three days here, but where Rin has been; the three days have been ten years."

"I was in another world...?" Rin said dazed. She came out of the daze pretty quick when Naraku wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him.

"I didn't expect him to arrive though. Pity," Naraku said giving Rin little kisses up the side of her neck. "I was hoping to show you some fun before having you become a hag." Naraku licked his lips lustfully as he looked up at Sesshomaru.

His anger began to rise as he watched Naraku fiddle with the knot in Rin's obi. Knowing if he made a move, Naraku would break her pretty little neck.

Sesshomaru was a little shocked and began wondering if he had actually used the words "pretty" and "little" in the same sentence. He was pulled back to the situation when Rin began to whimper.

He noticed Naraku was now by the doorway and Rin had been roughly pushed into the wall.

Sesshomaru snarled in rage and charged at Naraku.

He jumped out of the way in the nick of time. "You might want to check on Rin. Her body only had three days to transform. That can really make someone sick...or even die."

Sesshomaru whirled around to find Rin unconscious on the floor. He ran over to her and felt her wrist for a pulse. It was there, but very faint.

"Rin..." Sesshomaru said picking her up bridal style. Her arms hung limply to the side and her cheeks wet with tears. He looked down at her in wonderment. She had lovely dark-brown hair and— Sesshomaru shook his head quickly to stop his wondering thoughts. While Sesshomaru had admired Rin, Naraku took that chance and escaped.

A/N: Has anyone else noticed in some Fanfics when Rin passes out Sesshomaru notices how beautiful she is? It amazes me how they make him notice her brown eyes. Though how he can see her eyes when they're closed… It gets me every time. Maybe he pulls her eyelid open and that's how he notices.

XxX

It was dark and Seth's wrists were chained to the wall. He was on his knees and leaning as far forward as the chain allowed. As the door opened, light streamed into the death room.

"We have a little surprise for you," said the young man entering. He walked over to Seth and pulled him up roughly by his hair. "We're gonna take you outside. Pull another stunt like yesterday and we'll skin your arm.

Seth grunted as the man undid the chains. His wrists were raw and stung where skin used to be.

"There's no way in hell I'd give you an easy time."

"I know Seth," the young man said sighing. "You can still get out easy. Just tell us what we need to know and things can go back to the way they were... Back to us being friends and—"

"Friends don't do what you've done to me in the past four days."

The man nodded and dragged Seth out of the torture room and into the open. There were twenty other men. Lots of them used to be his best friends. Others were the kind farmers and merchants he and Rin had always waved to when passing by.

"We have a little gift for you," said a middle-aged man who used to be a friend of his grandfather.

"So the fungus that feeds off the scum wants to give me something? What is it this time? Maybe you're going to tie me up and slowly beat me with your clubs? Well, you better tie me up tight, because if I get loose, your ass is mine."

"I don't think this angel has the strength to even lift a club after the beating she took."

Angel?

"Bring her here."

Seth's body went numb when he saw it.

His Angel.

She was covered in blood.

Sera, his love, was covered in blood. Dried, brown blood caked her arms and the sides of her neck. The once lovely white dress was a mixture of crimson and black. Her arms were black and blue. The only thing that wasn't bruised was her face. It hurt more then any torture they had given him. The pain he felt was excruciating.

"Now my friend, tell us what we need to know."

His hearing and vision had gone blurry and muffled. The only thing clear was she. Sera was being held up because she didn't have the strength— Seth choked on the thought.

"What do you want to know?" he whispered softly. The men began to chuckle wickedly at their triumph.

"Where's Rin?"

"Probably dead. In the hands of Naraku."

"Did you tell her anything?"

"No."

"You lie."

"No."

"Where are you hiding her?"

"I didn't reach her in time. She is in the hands of Naraku."

"Fine, if you won't tell... Then maybe hearing her screams will help."

One of the men began to viciously beat the girl to the ground. The sound of her moaning and weak screams cut through him like a knife.

"No! Please, don't hurt her."

"Where's Rin?"

"I don't know! She's either dead or with Naraku."

"Get him out of my sight! Put the girl in the shed. You've got till tomorrow Seth. Either you tell us where Rin is or I'll make this girl learn what real suffering is all about."

They dragged the screaming young man back into the dark room. His hoarse cries echoed throughout the forest.

XxX

Rin woke up a day later and groaned. She sat up slowly and wiped the sleep out of her eyes.

"Where am I?" she asked as she looked around the room to see Sesshomaru sitting quietly in a chair.

The last thing she remembered was Naraku explaining her being in another world and she'd really only been gone for three days. She didn't know what to think. This was a very big shock for her. Too many emotions were stirring at once and she didn't know how to express them all.

"You're up."

"Good morning Lord Sesshomaru!" she said happy just to see him again. "Is there a place I may bathe and change?" She desperately wanted to get the feel of Naraku off her.

"Down the hall," he said in a bored tone. Though he didn't sound it, he was grateful she was going to wash off Naraku's stench.

Rin grabbed the kimono hanging on the side of her bed and ran out the room.

"Hello Lady Rin," a maid said slightly bowing.

"Where's the bathing room?"

"Down the hall to the left. Do—" Before she could finish Rin was off in a flash.

She quickly tore off the articles clothing and jumped into the steaming bath; which looked more like a hot spring. In record time she scrubbed her hair and dried herself.

She looked breathtaking with the creamy, dove colored kimono and the maroon, ruby colored hem. Her obi was the same ruby color and her brown hair came down to her elbows. She looked almost like those calm angels who walk but never run.

A/N: Note, I said almost.

Rin dashed down the hall, hair flying. She was running so fast she didn't see the maid. After managing to get half the maid through one of the sliding doors...

"Oh my gosh!" she said smacking her hands over her mouth in shock.

"Don't worry about me milady!" came the voice from the other side of the door.

Rin had a nice view of the old woman's huge rump and said, "Um... Okay then, bye!"

She quickly straightened out her hair and slowly entered her room to find Sesshomaru now, sitting on her bed deep in thought.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin said jumping on him.

"Rin," Sesshomaru said while gently pushing her off. "you forget your place?" He was a little pleased she had jumped on him. It helped diminish what was left of Naraku's scent.

_Her obi needs to be tightened. Someone will notice…_

"No Sesshomaru-sama!" she said trying to keep calm. "I have been away so long and under bad influence. I'm sorry." Rin slightly bowed her head.

"Who's bad influence was this?" he asked keeping his voice cold and hard.

"Let me start from the beginning," she said happily. Rin told about first coming to Lady Kara's, to when leaving. She was now sitting in a chair comfortably. She gave out a satisfied sigh just knowing Sesshomaru was there.

"Is that all?"

"Nothing else of great importance."

"I don't ask questions of low importance. Tell me," he said slightly growling.

Rin became happy by his annoyance. He cared! Rin felt like she could die happy...

Rin remembered Sesshomaru was waiting for an answer. "Well... I worked so hard but now, I find out you never did send me and all my training is worthless. Don't get me wrong! I'm happy to find out you never sent me, but all that hard work..."

"Rin, you can still use your skills. Later on, I will permit you to the training area when your mortal body is in better condition."

Rin nodded happily and started to look around the room. She stopped when her eye caught the balcony. She ran out and gasped at the wonderful view of the ocean.

"Something wrong?" Sesshomaru said suddenly appearing from behind her.

"I never knew you had a castle by the ocean," Rin said. Her face looked so calm and serene.

"Yes, it's very peaceful," Sesshomaru said unknowingly admiring the look on her face.

"Can you take me there when you're not busy? I would really love to see it up close."

"You must eat. I have many things to do now that I've returned. If I have the time and feel like taking you, I will."

XxX

Ty's head was drooping and she hadn't slept four days straight. The only time she had left her sister's cold body was to put on some black baggy pants, a dark blue shirt, which had sleeves that were in the middle of her shoulder and elbow, and wearing something around her wrist, that looked like a navy blue colored sweatband.

It seemed that Hikari truly was dead and they would have to go back to the village with the news.

"Ty, why are there buggies all in your hair?" the five year-old asked with big brown eyes.

She was wearing the nice kimono Tyke had stolen. Her brown shaggy/layered hairstyle reached her elbows. She didn't have cat ears, sharp nails, or even a tail like Ty and her brother. She was small for her age, but extremely fast.

A/N: Not even kin by blood. I'll get deeper into that later on if you really want to know... And Fred, your vote doesn't count:-p

Ty looked down at Hikari and sighed. She had to be dreaming.

"There are bugs in my hair because I'm dreaming."

"Fang, Ty has gone mad!" Hikari threw her arms up in the air and screamed. "She bumped her head and isn't screaming about the buggies in her hair."

Fang had fallen asleep and seemed to come right awake when he saw Hikari.

"It worked!" he said shouting. Fang gave out a whoop as he jumped into the air.

Tyke realized it wasn't a dream and hugged her little sister.

"Don't hug me! You got buggies in your hair!"

Ty seemed to also just realize this and started to scream as she shook the bugs out of her hair.

"Idiot, that's what you get for falling asleep near a Ni-Ni bush."

A/N: I have no clue what Ni means in Japanese… So for those who know all the nifty little words and this means something like moo or whatever… I'm sorry.

A flame seemed to surround Tyke as her teeth got strangely pointier.

"Why you little..." Ty did a weird spin kick that sent Fang flying.

"Loser..." Hikari said sweat dropping.

When the neko regained consciousness there was much hugging, kissing, laughing, and hitting Fang over the head.

Two hours later...

"So should we go back to the village?" Tyke asked as she covered her sleeping sister with another blanket.

Hikari looked so cute with flushed cheeks and thumb in her mouth.

Fang's eyes narrowed and his lips slowly spread to show dangerously sharp teeth. "I want revenge!"

"Me too, but I want the elders to verify Ari is okay," Ty said looking at the little girl. "We could go back to the village and talk to the elders, they'll know how to kill the little shit."

"The elders don't give a rat's ass about Naraku. They only want her to guard that stupid stone."

"Fang, they still know how to kill him."

"What makes you so sure they'll tell us?"

"Then tell me Fang, who else will know if she is recovered? Tell me someone who can examine her without fearing what she is?"

"Fine," he said sighing in defeat. "I'm going to find some supplies. Oh, and Tyke?"

"Yes?"

"Where exactly did you find all this stuff?"

"I borrowed it from a village. I wouldn't go there if I were you. They're really cross humans and seem to have a deep hate for neko youkai."

"I wonder why...?" Fang said pursing his lips. "Because, I know you would never steal. You stopped being a thief a long time ago and would never dream-"

"Just go get the supplies!" Ty barked out letting her hair slightly bristle.

XxX

So this chapter was a little on the dramatic side. Okay I don't know if the violence is Teen or what but just tell me if you think it necessary to bump up the rating.

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha or any other characters created by Rumiko Takahashi on the manga. If I did, Jaken would be so abused, you'd think him an overgrown smurf.

RACE WITH TIME AND WAR copyright © 2005 by 1-Psycho-Kitty. All rights reserved.


	4. Lets just call this one Feefee

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha. Yep, big shocker there.

I know, another late post. My excuse: Computer broke down then I got myself grounded.

Big **thank you **to those who took the time and reviewed. (Gives you hug and a cookie.) All questions will be answered on my profile page because… There are too many reasons why, so I'll blame it on Fred the Bear.

Chapter Four

Lets just call this one Fee-fee…

Sesshomaru walked down the hall silently with Rin. He didn't know how to really act. She was seventeen—not a child.

"We've arrived." His voice was smooth but still calmingly cold. It made the hair on the nape of her neck rise.

Rin ate her food slowly and tried to act polite. It had been a long time since she'd used chopsticks—the little buggers were slippery.

Sesshomaru tried to hide his amusement every time Rin jumped when a servant took away her plate. In Sesshy language it was "interesting" how clumsy she was with the chopsticks.

Rin sighed; she obviously wasn't going to get the food…

She shot a quick glance to the left—no one.

She repeated the tactic for the right and saw only a dank, narrow hall. The coast was clear… Rin stabbed the stick into the chicken and quickly jammed it in her mouth.

Sesshomaru gave her a disapproving look that made her quickly shrink back.

Rin sat there waiting until she became bored and began checking out her surroundings. That's when she noticed Lord Sesshomaru's hands.

A/N: Eh-he… Um, how many choked on that sentence?

The red marks on his writs intrigued her. She didn't remember those from before. His smooth, silver hair was beautiful and his eyes breathtaking if stared in too long.

There was something different about him. She couldn't place her finger on it, but her childhood memory told her something was amiss…

Rin was pulled away from her thoughts blushing when she realized she was still staring at him; he was staring right at her. His face showed nothing.

"Rin, I shall be attending to important matters for the time being. You are free to roam the castle as you wish. There are rules you will abide by, one of them is you are not to leave this castle without my permission. Is that—understood?"

"Yes..."

Sesshomaru stood up slowly, paused and then calmly walked down the narrow hall. She watched her lord till the darkness engulfed him.

Rin abruptly stopped looking around when she began getting goose bumps on her arms. She could feel someone's eyes burning a hole into her back. The question was…who?

XxX

He had lost track of how many days he had been in here. His throat was dry and he couldn't even summon up tears anymore when he heard her screaming.

Every two days they would ask from behind the door the same question; every two days they'd get to the same answer.

Seth heard a rustling sound from outside; they were playing with the locks. He quickly griped the putrid, wooden panel as he desperately tried to summon his strength to stand.

The door creaked as it was slowly opened, letting the moonlight flood in. His hand swiftly covered his eyes to protect them from the blinding light. Sadly, this was the most light he'd seen in weeks.

"Seth," someone whispered, "be you in here?"

"Who's there?"

"Oh Seth!" the figure ran toward him.

"Lady…Kara?" he said shocked at how strong the old hag's grip was.

She quickly, but gently tugged on his arm. "Come on, must get you out of here," she mumbled.

"Not without Sera," he said firmly.

"Seth, I did the best I could…"

"Where is she?" His blood began tingle with a slight chill.

"I cleaned her up and found herbs to numb the pain..."

"Take me to her."

Lady Kara nodded as tears fell from her weathered face. "I'll-"

Seth pulled back the branch to see the clearing illuminated by moonlight. A huge lump formed in his throat. "How long does she have?" The words had come out stiffly.

There was no way she'd answer that question. He already knew...

"I made sure she was in no great pain… Seth, I'm so sorry."

"I—is it alright if you leave us alone?" His hands were trembling.

She nodded before slowly walking off as she silently wept in her hands.

He numbly walked over to her and sat on his knees. His eyes burned as tears welled up.

"Seth?" came a faint whisper.

"Yes?"

"It doesn't hurt anymore." Sera covered her mouth as she coughed. He watched as blood splattered onto her hand.

He gently pulled her into his lap and tried to smile reassuringly. "Kara went to get the Medicine Man. By tomorrow you'll be sleeping in a warm bed and-"

"Seth, please, you lying will make me feel no better…"

"Sera-

"Just stay with me." The way she gripped his arm sent shivers down his spine.

"Does it hurt?" He was becoming choked up.

"Everything's…numb," she said laying her head on his chest.

She sighed in content as he began softly stroking her hair. "Seth, listen to me, listen to me very carefully."

He gripped her shoulder softly as he rested his chin atop her head. "I'm listening."

"You must help Rin. You cannot let him have the stone." Her breathing was labored. "She must have Light or the…pain won't cease."

"Who is this Light?"

"I…don't know." Sera gave out a small cry as she clutched her side. "Find Light and save Rin."

"I'll have to find Rin and warn—"

"Listen to me damn it!" Sera clutched his shirt as she gazed up at him fiercely. "They said this Wicked One sees Rin's soul in shadow. Promise me…"

She looked up at him determinedly. Beads of sweat were forming on Sera's brow.

"Promise me!"

"I promise."

Sera smiled as she closed her eyes and began to drift off into a dreamless sleep.

XxX

She gave out a small cry as she fell to the ground on her hands and knees. Her breathing was hard and ragged as she kneeled there, staring at her filthy hands.

There were thin cuts where the branches had grazed her while running through the teeming forest. The stuff wedged under her fingernails was most uncomfortable.

"I…must get up." She took in another gasp of air as she tried to maintain balance. Her lungs were burning and her throat was beyond the definition of dry and sore.

A tear slid down her cheek, leaving behind a clean, white streak. Her face was almost as dirty as her hands. She wasn't crying about the pain, but the water and her mission.

Hands trembling, the girl dipped the waterskin into the small spring. This had been the fourth time she had been forced to stop for water.

"Forgive me my lord, for what I must do." Her legs were burning from running two days straight. Once it was filled with water, she dunked her head in and drank.

She wiped her mouth and then began to run onward. The girl had to get to him before it was too late. If he let them go then he could possibly die; and it would be all her fault.

With the thought of him dying she gave out a wounded cry and added speed to her run.

XxX

It was early in the morning and Rin had just finished bathing and put on a black kimono.

She was walking down the hall when she violently rammed into the wall gasping for breath. She clutched her chest at the stabbing pain, trying to make it leave. Those three minutes of pain seemed like an hour to Rin.

It slowly began to fade and Rin stood there for a minute wondering what had just happened. Maybe it was just a side effect from being in another world. She'd have to let Lord Sesshomaru know about that.

Seeing since She didn't know where she was… Rin decided to explore.

She found herself outside in the training area. The sound of swords clinking and arrows flying through the air was comforting. She silently breathed in the smells around her as the warm sunshine lightly heated the top of her head.

Suddenly, missing Seth and his grandfather's training, Rin trotted off to find a change of clothes.

"Are you sure you'd rather not go to the gardens?"

"I'm sure."

The woman sighed. "They might be a little big on you. There's a shed over there you may change in."

"Thank you."

Fifteen minutes later Rin came out in a white haori and navy blue hakama. She had found herself a nice katana and pouch of thin, silver needles. Sharp and deadly are these four-inch needles, which can either kill a man or paralyze parts of him for a week.

She smiled at the thin weapons in her hand. Almost a hundred memories flooded back.

She could remember Seth's grandfather threatening to flog him if he smoked his weed. Seth then tried to substitute the weed by smoking a mysterious plant he had found in the wood. The plant ended up being poisonous and Seth almost died, had it not been for Lady Kara's medicines. Lady Kara... Had Lady Kara been working for Naraku?

A/N: When I said weed, I didn't mean marijuana.

Rin shook her head to rid the thought. Lady Kara was like a grandmother to her. She and Seth were the only family she had over there. Seth was her brother and Lady Kara her grandmother. They would not have betrayed her...or would they?

"Who are you?" Rin jumped slightly at the cold voice, thankful it had pulled her from the haunting thoughts.

Rin turned around to be faced with a young man. She smiled slightly before bowing. "My name's Rin. I'm staying as a guest at the castle."

"Mines Ryu," He looked her up and down with disgust. "Need I remind you that you're a girl?"

"Uh... I'm sorry," Rin said politely as she blinked stupidly, "but I didn't quite get your point."

"Girls don't belong here. You could really hurt yourself playing with those weapons."

Rin could feel her face heat up with anger. "I was not playing with these weapons. I came down to practice my aim and see if someone would-"

"You probably don't know the first thing on how to use a sword."

"I have been using a sword _sir_, since I was eight and shan't be mocked by the likes of you." She began to look over him more closely.

He had black, spiky hair that had two strips hanging limply down on each side of his cheek. The boy had maroon eyes and three black stripes on the sides of his cheek. The guy's face was extremely pale.

He was wearing a sleeveless black shirt that showed a black dragon tattoo stretching from lower elbow to shoulder. His pants were baggy and also black.

A/N: I did not go overboard…

"I hate it when you girls brag about things you know nothing of."

"Why you little-"

"Prove it."

"Fine!" before she could say anymore, Ryu had lunged at her.

She quickly blocked his sword with wide eyes.

"Lets begin, shall we?" Ryu said licking his lips.

"Thanks for the warning."

"You're welcome." His voice was sickeningly sweet.

Ryu suddenly pulled out a small pole and swung it at her legs. Rin quickly jumped backward as he chucked a dagger at her foot.

With the flick of her wrist, six needles shot toward the demon. He snarled in rage as four landed in his arm.

"What is wrong with you? That could've been my foot. Now there's a trick to getting those—"

His fangs seemed to now show and saliva flew everywhere. Lucky for Rin, the purple spittle now burning into the floor didn't touch her.

A very unnecessary, sharp tug made the needles take a nice chunk of Ryu's arm out. The blood spilling out of his arm was enough to bathe a small dog in.

A/N: I know, bad example. You probably had a vision of Fee-fee the poodle bathing… Okay, well you get the point.

Rin stood there mouth agape. How could he do that? Why the _hell_ was he smiling?

Rin felt puke rising in her throat as he sucked on the gory arm. He looked up at her with bulging cheeks. Rin didn't even what to know why his cheeks were puffed up… A tiny trickle of blood ran down his chin.

"Dear God," she said now forcing to swallow what came up. "what is that thing?"

As if she wasn't petrified enough, he had to go and swallow what was in his mouth. He closed his eyes as he licked his lips, acting as if he was savoring the taste. He gave her a toothy grin, showing her the bloodstained teeth.

Sesshomaru had been in his study when he smelled a large amount of demon blood. It was of low importance to him if a demon died—and went on with his business.

Rin watched as the large slash in his arm slowly disappeared.

Ryu began to run backwards—never taking his eyes off Rin's. She was mystified by the utter silence. A small breeze slightly blew her hair and hakama. She could hear the wind whistle as the cold air chilled her cheek. Her eyes narrowed, he was as still as stone. Something was defiantly _not_ right…

He suddenly looked at her with white eyes and gave out a bloodcurdling screech. Images of indescribable horror raced through her mind. The shock of what he was doing to her in these images paralyzed her. She watched helplessly as he ran toward her, sword drawn.

Rin managed to move out of the way as the sword went for her middle. A strong impact made her lose footing and fall forward.

The shock on her face when the pain ignited below her shoulder and the site of blood flying through the air... In those few seconds it somewhere clicked that his sword had just cut into her arm.

Rin gave out a small grunt when she landed on her hands and knees. Warm blood steadily ran down her arm in a thin line. She could feel it getting in between her fingers and slowly moistening her palm.

Sesshomaru was on the beach watching the waves when a horrible scent filled his nostrils. It was Rin's blood and he could smell more then he wanted. Sesshomaru started to run to where the scent of blood was strong.

Ryu kicked her violently in the chest, making her fly back and land hard on her back. She moaned when her head banged onto the marble floor.

Rin slowly stared up at the sky as she tried to regain the breath knocked out of her.

She tried to scream when his foot crushed into her wounded arm. Rin felt could metal slightly touch her neck. The wickedly smile on his face gave her no comfort.

Sesshomaru found himself in the training area. A growl escaped his throat when he saw a demon with his sword at Rin's neck. He had one foot on her chest and the other was standing on her arm.

His eyes narrowed and his expression darkened. How dare he put his filthy feet on Rin! Sesshomaru quickly knocked the boy off with a swift jab of the elbow.

Sesshomaru gently picked Rin up bridal style as he tried to remain calm. He couldn't understand why her blood reeked of death.

Rin was still in shock of him saving her that she said nothing.

"What do you think you're doing? If-" Ryu stopped yelling when he realized who it was. "Lord Sesshomaru, this mortal has—"

Sesshomaru pushed Rin's head into his chest as he drew his whip, slicing Ryu into a thousand pieces.

Rin heard the sickening noise and lifted her head, getting a gruesome view of what was left of Ryu. Before Rin could really examine the site, Sesshomaru had already ran off; leaving the servants to clean up the mess...

He ran all the way to the castle and down the halls until he made his way into a huge marble floored room. She looked around in awe. There was a huge hot spring; many sitting areas, and a medium sized marble room.

"Go in and put on one of the white robes," Sesshomaru said walking off.

Four women quickly helped Rin take her arm out of the haori and dress the wound. The poultice they had put on her arm stung horribly but she said nothing. The girls cleaned her arm of blood and gave her a peach kimono to change into.

If Rin wasn't in shock and so angry, she would've noticed the beautiful, ruby flower prints on her kimono.

"Would you like us to put some paint on your face?" The voice had been calm and very sweet.

A/N: I don't mean paint, but makeup. Also, Fee-fee is a miniature poodle…

"No, thank you," Rin said monotone.

The woman smiled warmly. "At least let us brush out your hair."

Rin numbly slid the door shut, not even caring the woman was still talking.

She had been thinking hard on what Sesshomaru had done and began to walk down the hall.

"What you did was foolish," came a slightly harsh voice.

Rin turned around with an embarrassed "I'm going to kill you" look. "Foolish? I was only sparring with a young man who is now in _millions of pieces_!" Her face was a dark red and her knuckles white.

"He intended to kill you Rin."

"I had everything under control."

"Him having a sword to your neck is control?" He had the most annoying amused look on his face. It made you want to hit him with a frying pan, laugh hysterically, then yell timber.

"I could've handled it! You didn't have to do that."

"Enough. Rin, once again you are forgetting whom you speak to."

Rin's cheeks redden as she bowed. "Forgive me milord. I am not in the right of mind."

A/N: I know I use the blushing stuff too much…sorry.

He could smell the anger radiating off her. "Would you like me to assist you to a room?"

"A room?" she said looking at him queerly. "I wasn't going to my room..."

"You need rest."

Rin nodded and followed him down a long corridor. They came to a door and stopped.

Rin looked guiltily at the floor. "Are you sending me to my room...as punishment? I would rather be flogged then have this humiliation."

"If you do not rest the poison will spread more quickly."

"What poison?"

"The poison the young male tipped his blade with." Sesshomaru was surprised at the tension in his voice.

Rin slowly followed him in the room and let the four ladies pull her into bed. She looked ghastly pale and there was a worried look on her face.

"Lord Sesshomaru, am I going to die?"

"No," he said calmly.

"How long must I stay here?"

"For two days," one of the girls said cheerfully. "Now we're going to have to put some ointment on that wound of yours."

Though she wouldn't admit it, she was relived to be able to rest. She was starting to feel the side effects of losing so much blood.

Sesshomaru walked out of the room and began to think up reasons to why he had just killed the Lord of the East Island's son…

XxX

"I'm starving! Can we please call it a day?" Ty said, her eyes drooping.

"Just a little bit longer."

"Fang, if I don't get to sleep soon, I'm going to die. I'm so tired, that log looks so comfortable..." Ty said looking longingly at the log.

"There's a village up ahead, once you pass this—"

"Fang, how far is this village?"

"A couple miles."

"Look, there's a clearing over there. I'm tired and need to sleep. You may keep going if you like, but I need to sleep!" Ty said walking over to the clearing.

"You're acting like a human." He watched as she began to leave. "Ty, get back here!"

"Make me."

Being the idiot he was, Fang decided to try and "make her" come. Lets just say he ended up with a lovely black eye and Tyke a nice, warm bed.

Ten minutes later…

"Hey Ari, could you keep it down? I'm trying to sleep."

"Sorry, but I'm trying to train," she said with rich sarcasm.

Ty smiled at their conversation. She wasn't really paying attention, but the sound of their voices was soothing.

"And how is rubbing those two sticks together training?"

Ari let out a long sigh.

For one so young, Fang knew she had the maturity level of a twelve year-old.

"Fang, you wanna see something cool?"

"Okay, like what?" He slowly leaned forward. There was an odd look in his eyes.

Ty's eyes suddenly went wide at what the "cool thing" Ari was going to show. "Hikari, no!" Tyke yelled desperately.

It was too late. There, in Ari's hand was a small, blue flame. "This."

"Wow..." You could see the reflection of blue flame in his pupils.

The flame suddenly disappeared and Hikari smiled triumphantly. Maybe it was just how the firelight was reflecting off her, but he could've sworn she looked almost ghostly.

"Y-you idiot!" Tyke said fuming. "How could you be so stupid and let her do that!"

"What's so wrong about her doing that?"

Ty sighed. "How do I explain something so complex to an idiot and still make him understand?"

"I feel for you," Ari said slowly sitting down by her feet. She was exhausted and needed some rest.

"I'm still angry at you! So—you just sit there and behave!" She sat down and sighed some more.

"I'm guessing you want me to sit down?"

"Na? You think?"

"As you know, Hikari is the guardian of a stone. The stone is dark purple and the size of a golf ball, but more oval shaped."

"What's a golf ball?"

"How should I know?"

"You just said golf ball…"

"I did?"

"Yeah, you did."

"Strange for some reason the word authoress popped into my head…"

"Okay, well get on with it."

"The Elders have Hikari guard the stone day and-"

"Tell me the stuff I don't know."

"Well, maybe if you were around more," Tyke said through gritted teeth, "you'd know."

"Sorry."

"You're not sorry!"

"How do you know!"

"Because you keep leaving me and Ari alone in the village! I have to fend for myself while you're off with those stupid-"

"Guys, can we please just get on with it?" Ari asked nervously.

Tyke took a deep breath then glared at Fang.

"Hikari is the guardian of the stone. They're always saying the stone will bring peace, but if you touch it... I can remember a girl screaming. It was horrible," Ty said shuddering. "The stone holds so much pain, sorrow, betrayal, and some—have no words to describe them."

"She can only hear the voices, but I can sometimes get glimpse of the people," Ari said while playing with a blade of grass.

"When she guards the stone, it drains her of energy. She becomes very sick and pale. If they push her too far...she'll die. I just don't understand how something that contains such pain can bring peace."

"Alec is teaching me how to destroy the stone. He says it's not even a stone, but the _soul_ of a wicked."

"What's with the screams?" Fang asked uneasily.

"Alec says that Ari and I are kind of seeing into the Wicked One's past."

Fang put on a calm, straight face. "So if this thing isn't a stone..."

Then we're in deep shit." The seriousness in Ari's face was priceless.

XxX

This chapter took me a really long time. It has something to do with writer's block and me loafing around. Okay, so it was more loafing then anything else…so sorry. I know there was barely any Sessh/Rin but a pirate can't talk about pirate things unless the boat is built. Never mind. I'm shutting up now.

This is just to show the whole world I got that cool circle thing with a "c" in it. Heh… I feel special.

RACE WITH TIME AND WAR copyright © 2005 by 1-Psycho-Kitty. All rights reserved.


	5. A dark secret and how it began

Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi owns InuYasha. I get tired of putting this up here. This is like a pain in the neck tradition with a superstition that says: If broken, you shall have the lawyers after you because Rumiko has secret agents who read our fanfics and make sure we have a disclaimer.

I know it was a very late post. I'm really sorry about that. With school, vacation and me probably moving, I just had no time to type. Sadly, this is all I came up with.

Chapter Five:

A dark secret and how it began.

Sesshomaru silently waited in the shadows. It was soon to be midnight and the cursed woman had still not left. He recalled commanding them to be here by sunrise and leave when one could no longer see the sun. So why was she still in Rin's room?

Finally, the door began to slide open as the woman peered out. She quickly slid the door shut and began to walk down the hall with her small candle.

He waited till he could no longer hear footsteps thudding against the wooden floor. Sesshomaru entered Rin's room and slowly slid the door shut. Her once heavy breathing and thick smell of sweat was now gone.

There was a plain, wooden chair beside her bed. He had been taking watch in that chair for the past four nights… Sesshomaru once again sat down and reacquainted himself with the plain, yet comfy chair. Everything seemed surreal.

Rin had had a high fever for three days which none of the healers could ease. The idiots could only conjure up a hot drink that made her sleep longer.

They had mentioned the poison used wasn't capable of these effects. The elderly woman suggested that _maybe_ it was a side effect from the other world.

_Maybe_ had not been good enough. Maybe had made her scream out in pain when all were sleeping. It had made her sweat and talk feverishly in her sleep. Maybe had—

Sesshomaru felt a small tingle in his palm and realized his fist was clenched so tight his claws were digging into his flesh. He slowly released his grip and watched in annoyance as blood slowly dripped off the side of his hand.

The stinging sensation in his palm would soon disappear when new skin overlapped the thin slices.

The Inu youkai took in a deep breath as he tried to clear his senses. He could smell his pure, youkai blood and—Sesshomaru slightly cocked his head. This certainly was new.

Thinking it was coming from the garden; Sesshomaru stood slowly and turned himself to the beautiful, glass French window. The thick, heavy, red curtains had been pulled back; letting the moonlight flood in.

A/N: A French window is like two glass door window—panel—things…

The view of the garden was wonderful. Sesshomaru pushed the two glass doors open and walked onto the balcony. He took in a deep breath expecting the lovely scent to only be rewarded with the smell…of shit.

Sesshomaru hurriedly breathed out the offending scent. It made his nostrils sting. The stank was a mixture of shit, egg, mud, and dead toad.

XxX

Jaken stood frozen with fear. He was on the verge of pissing his pants. He would die now. It was all over. Once they finished removing the skin from his feet and legs, they would then slice open his middle and take out his intestines.

Jaken could still remember the last wretched soul to enter this forbidden part of the garden…

XxX

**A stupid memory from Jaken. **

_Sakura was lying down on her side with her head rested on her elbow. The see—through fabric had a huge split, which showed her creamy, white legs. Her exotic dress was only held together with a tie around her neck and one around her slim waist. _

_She was waiting for Sesshomaru. Her breathing slightly quickened at the thought of him seeing her like this. She knew he would be pleased with how much of her cleavage was showing._

_She would not fail like the others did. Sakura would be the mate to the Western Land's Lord. She shivered as a slight breeze touched her naked back. _

_A smug look spread across her face. As uncomfortable as the stone bench was, Sakura managed to **still** look sexy._

_She made a slight gasp when she saw him. He had no shirt and looked to have been in the middle of bathing. The water glistening off his muscles and his hard breathing told her Sesshomaru was hers._

"_You were not permitted to this garden." He sounded angry but his voice was too calm. _

_He was probably playing a game. This thought seemed to reassure her so she only smiled at him._

_She slowly stood up and began to seductively walk over to him. By the way he was looking at her she knew she'd already won._

_Sesshomaru's hands roughly pulled her waist toward him. He had a slight snarl on his face._

_Horror suddenly filled Sakura's blue eyes. The sick realization of what was to happen to her brought out a piercing scream._

_XxX_

The punishment has stages… First, were humiliation and cutting down their dignity. Becoming a whore for the Lord's guest did this. Second, letting one be alone with fear till you can almost see the madness in their eyes. Next, torture that last six, agonizing, long weeks. If one is lucky, at the end of torture you will be eaten alive by wild beasts. Only if you're lucky…

They all experienced many of these stages and only one was known to become lucky. This always happens because of the rose bush.

The rose was a creamy white—to smell one was pure ecstasy.

This rose was to be given only to Lord Sesshomaru's future mate. The Inu Youkai Lords of the Western Land had all followed this small tradition ever since the beginning.

When one received a flower from these parts of the forbidden garden it meant you had shown favor in the Lord's eyes. Sesshomaru courted many bitches in his time. From what Jaken had learned none of them had ever gotten the blue flower.

So why had this disgusting female mortal earned such beauty? This would be the fifth time Sesshomaru had picked the blue flower for Rin.

Jaken had been in a state of shock when he saw the flower in Rin's room.

Maybe she has put him under some spell? Jaken thought as he let his eyes slowly wander back up to the window. No, his lord was too power—

Sesshomaru was looking directly at the bush he was hiding in. He dared not even breathe while his lord watch. There was anger flashing in Lord Sesshomaru's eyes.

XxX

There was someone down there. They looked to be covered in waterweed, mud, and in a brown dress. It was dead. He would kill that thing for entering _his_ garden!

Just as he was about to lunge from the balcony, Sesshomaru heard a faint moan.

His anger left him quite suddenly when he realized it was Rin.

XxX

Jaken watched as his lord walked back into the room. He heard the glass doors shut with a light click.

Lost in his confusion and the silence that surrounded him, Jaken just stared at the balcony in disbelief.

Had his lord not seen him? Maybe it was a trick… Surely he would come through the entrance and surprise his prey? Or was it he was waiting for him to come out of the bush?

What was his lord doing that was more important then killing the intruder? Had the mortal awoken? Maybe he'd just realized how worthless she was and decided to finish the job.

Yes, that was it! Jaken thought as he giggled wickedly. My dear lord is probably crushing her bones.

These thoughts and images of Sesshomaru torturing and killing Rin calmed him.

"I should get cleaned up," Jaken said as he began to waddle off. "If I soak in the spring and use olive oil the scent should come off in a mere four hours!"

XxX

He stood there towering over the sleeping mortal. Three minutes had gone by and it had just clicked. She was giving off the scent. It smelled lovely and didn't become nauseating after awhile.

So the mortal's scent isn't revolting. A waste. Muck looks no better if one places a pearl atop. Only father was deceived by such poor seduction.

Sesshomaru was now sitting in the chair. Rin's sheets were a plain gray and the room had little furniture. The only thing really noticeable was the nightstand.

The blue flower looked to have been moved closer to her. He remembered his stroll past her room. She'd reawaken and began crying out in pain. The cries seized suddenly as Rin began watching something.

The door was slightly ajar and the room dark. Rin had said the light burned so they'd shut out most light. She was looking at the flower he'd put there early that morning.

"Milady, are you alright?"

"Yes…" Rin said laying back down. There was a faint smile on her lips.

"Shall I get you some tea to help you sleep?"

"No, everything is fine…now," Rin had said in a murmur as her eyelids slowly closed.

Sesshomaru had been somewhat satisfied at the sudden memory. She would be fine in the morning. This had only been a resting day for her.

The calling of a mockingbird and the sudden animal sounds outside informed him it was morning and time to dismiss himself.

XxX

"She'll be fine now?"

"We haven't found anything wrong with her yet."

Tyke gave out a sigh of relief. She'd been worried that the antidote given by Kagura had a catch.

"She's going to be fine," Fang, said in a whisper.

"You two are excused."

She began to follow her partner out the door but suddenly halted. "Elders, may I…ask you a question?"

"Go ahead child."

"Hikari will be well soon, yes?"

"Many of the Elders are tending to her as we speak."

"When she's well, what will you have her do?"

"Why, protect the stone."

Chills ran up her spine. "Thank you," she said bowing. "If I may ask just one more question…"

He gave a slight nod. "One more question. We are old and need rest."

"Do you know where I might find Alec?"

Five of the seven frowned. "We have not seen him for the past month. Was there something you needed?"

"No, I just wanted a map from the—"

"Well I'm sure Fang could take you."

"Thank you Elders."

The sun was setting now and everything was quite. She told herself to keep moving. Everything had gone numb. They didn't know where he was?

Ty could remember asking the Elders where one of the teachers had gone. They'd also said they'd not seen him.

Tyke had found Haku's body in a field, his throat cut, and legs twisted in ways that were not normal. The Elders had sent someone to murder him.

She did not want to find Alec's lifeless body in a field. Tyke was probably overreacting… There was a possibility that the Elders spoke truth.

"Ty." He rested his hand atop her shoulder. "Hikari will be fine."

She felt him turn her around. "Don't cry…"

She hadn't even realized she _had_ been crying.

She tensed up when he kissed her forehead. It wasn't an innocent gesture of reassurance. The look in his eyes told her that.

"I'm alright now… Thank you," she mumbled. That something was again screaming at her.

Sometimes she'd see that look in his eyes. It was like his mask had slipped and she got to view the real him. Course, it was always a glimpse so she'd always brushed it off.

This was the longest glimpse she'd gotten and she wished it would go away. That something wished it would go away too.

"Ty…"

"You shouldn't use that name around here! Someone could—"

He nuzzled her neck. "We're no where near the village…it's only you and me."

Panic began to overcome her worry for Alec. She was alone with him in a forest. Ty knew he could overpower her easily. There was no escape. She began to curse the day she'd ever met him.

XxX

**Flashback and et cetera **

_Tyke began to hum a happy tune as she walked along the river. She had been right to stop by that village. The pickings were fairly well._

_Her humming came to a halt when up ahead, she saw something floating in the river._

"_What is that?" she asked aloud._

_When the thing drew nearer, she realized it was a girl. Ty quickly dropped the pack and jumped into the river. She quickly made her way over to the girl in white._

_She pulled the girl up by the shoulder and began to swim back. Suddenly, something pulled on her leg and the water began to swirl._

"_What the hell?" _

_There was a beam of light coming straight for them. She watched in awe as it came toward her; then everything went black..._

_Ty moaned slightly at the small rock wedged under her back. _

"_I see you're awake."_

_Tyke sat up and looked around. The girl was sleeping by a fire and there was a male neko youkai…_

"_What happened?"_

"_I found you partially washed up with the girl… Would you like something to drink?"_

"_No thanks. Thank…you for helping me."_

"_No need to thank me."_

"_I saw the child in the river and jumped in to save her… I don't remember what happened after that."_

_The young male was frowning. "You say you saw her in the river?"_

_What does he think, we fell from the sky or something? Of course the river you idiot! Is that not where you found us? "Yeah…"_

"_Sorry, how rude of me. My name is Ino, and you are?"_

_She didn't trust him. He gave her a bad feeling. "My name's…Tyke."_

_After spending most of the night talking, Tyke began to question why she hadn't liked the fellow… But there _**was**_ that something. It was that same something that told her he shouldn't know her real name._

_The next morning, they had a wonderful discussion over hot soup and tea._

"_The girl still hasn't awaked," Tyke said sadly. "We'll have to bring her to healer."_

_Ino stopped eating. "W—healer?"_

"_Yes, she seems to be ill—"_

"_What healer?"_

"_I don't know…maybe in a near by village?"_

_Ino brightened. There's a village up this river. They have healers there. It's not very far."_

"_How long?"_

"_A days trip at the most."_

"_Okay then, lets go."_

_They spent the rest of the day just talking as they headed toward the village._

_Tyke felt like she'd known him all her life._

"_Well, we're here. There's the village."_

_Tyke looked down at the village. It looked peaceful enough. The walk through the woods and mountain had been harsh though._

_Ino took a step forward. "Wait!"_

"_What?" he asked confusedly._

"_We don't know if they'll be kind to…well, our kind."_

"_Oh…"_

"_And you did mention you didn't stay here."_

"_True…what do you want to do?"_

"_I don't want them to know my name?"_

"_Why?"_

"_They can track you down that way." Her words gushed with emotion._

_Seeing that it was a sensitive area, Ino didn't push for an explanation. "Okay, well you can use that fake name; so all we really need to do is think up one for me."_

"_Fake name?" She stood there in a pool of shock and confusion._

"_Tyke, that's not your real name, now is it? Could you tell me you're real one please?"_

_That something was back now and it was screaming at her. Not knowing what to do, she said the first thing that popped into her head, "Ty."_

"_Ty… That's a pretty name. So Ty, what should I use?"_

"_Fang." That was the second thing that had popped into her head._

"_Okay then. Shall we go?"_

"_Our story?"_

"_Oh uh… You're my sister and we found this girl and wanted to find a healer."_

_What a lame story! How'd he know though… How'd he know? Tyke slightly nodded as she followed him down the hill._

_A/N: Yeah, I know, speed the freak up on this flashback memory before you hurt me._

_A little later on…_

_They were in the village now and the girl had awoken. Ino had been asked into a huge house and Tyke was to wait outside; that's when the girl woke up._

"_Hey, you're awake!"_

"_Hikari," the girl mumbled. "Summoned from the…" _

"_The what?"_

"_They want you to come in." Ino said suddenly popping his head out the door. "Oh, she's awake. Come on T—Tyke."_

"_You brought us our angel!" the woman said running toward the child._

_Hikari let out a scared whimper and hid behind Ty's leg. "Who're you?"_

"_Why I'm to be your personal—" _

"_Ju, the girl obviously has amnesia. Why don't you get our guests a room prepared?"_

_Ju nodded before trotting off._

"_I'm sorry," the old man said from his seat at a long table, "but I'm afraid I've already forgotten your names."_

"_I'm Fang, and this is my sister…Tyke."_

"_Well, Fang and Tyke, thank you for saving our little girl." He looked down sadly at Hikari. "Do you remember me?"_

"_Hikari," she said meekly. "That's all I know."_

_The other men at the table began to whisper. "Silence!" They quickly shut up. "Hikari, that's okay. We'll just have to start from the beginning."_

"_O—okay." Hikari's small hands gripped tightly to Tyke's leg. _

_A lot later on…_

_Tyke had been informed that Hikari was guardian of a stone, which was supposed to protect the village and bring peace in some stupid prophecy. Tyke didn't trust them at all but Ari had lived here before… _

_Hikari had become quite attached to Ty, almost as if she were her mother. Ty couldn't deny her fondness for the child. She was a cocky, smart, witty, but at the same time, terrified little girl._

_She'd been here now two weeks and Tyke had had enough of their odd customs and village life. She'd become great friends with Fang, though she still hadn't told him her real name._

"_You're leaving?"_

"_Yes…and you too, right?"_

"_I think I'll stay awhile. Like you, I don't trust the Elders either."_

"_Then I guess I could stay awhile longer." She thought it a little odd that there was a surprised look on his face._

"_Sure."_

_Never had Tyke thought she'd end up staying for two years. In that time, she had come to realize just how powerful and cruel the Elders really were. There was no way she'd leave Ari here. _

_Knowing this, Tyke had told the Elders she wanted to help in doing their work of bringing peace to the world. It was the only way she could stay at the village when they hated her so. She was only a helpful puppet to them. She despised the missions and yet, it was an escape from the village. _

XxX

"In—Fang, someone might think that—"

"Say it." His grip on her shoulders tightened.

"Ino, someone is going to come. We're brother and sister here. They're going to question why…" Her voice trailed off when she felt his lips on her neck.

"I've been in love with you since our very fist mission together," he said in a whisper. He brought his head back up and looked down at her lustfully.

She wanted to scream. Ty could remember many missions. They had killed so many people on those trips… Ino was always charming the ladies at the inns. If they denied him he became angry and well… But they had been humans and she'd thought nothing of it.

"Ty…" His lips only inches from her face.

She slowly put her arms around his neck. Her hand gripped tightly at the needle. If she could just hit a certain pressure point…

(Insert loud smacking noise.)

"What the hell!" Ino was clutching the side of his head.

Tyke stared dumbly at the huge rock.

"Who threw that!" Ino asked while screaming in rage.

She could hear a rustling noise through the trees. The noise seemed to be running away from them and in the direction of the village.

"Wait here!" Ino sprinted off to catch the little wretch who'd thrown the rock and interrupted Ty and him. To think he'd almost claimed her lips…

She watched as he ran off, leaving Tyke with a dumb look on her face. Ino would probably try and cut them off at the village entrance. She silently thanked the one who had chucked the medium sized rock.

Ty smiled goofily at the rock. "Not my type of weapon or style, _but_…" She looked down at the sliver, five-inch needle clutched in her hand. "You and me, we're on the same page." She slightly chuckled. _To think, I'm talking to a rock! I really must be losing it. But after my close encounter with Ino's lips… One would think so._

"Glad to hear it."

Tyke froze. _Did that rock just speak? Shit, I_** am **_going mental._

As if to add to the insanity, a downpour of rain popped out of nowhere. It felt like a thousand freezing needles pricking her skin at once. Though the rain was cold, it didn't make her shiver like the arm that was had wrapped itself around her waist…

XxX

"Ino," the Elder said calmly.

"Yes?" He gave a slight bow.

"Alec is missing and he knows."

"What would you like me to do?" The worry in his tone was strong.

"Find him."

Ino smiled wickedly. "Shall I bring you back his head?"

"No, just find out where he is, then report it immediately."

"Of course master."

"Where is Tyke?"

"Ty is…"

"You shall have her once Alec is dealt with. Do not forget your duty comes first." He shook his head slowly. "Naraku wasn't supposed to give Hikari back… After all, she is his guardian."

"Master?" His brow furrowed as a confused look spread across his face.

"Find Alec. He knows what the stone is. It will cause a calamity if this is heard by the wrong ears." _Did Naraku think we would not bring him the stone later? Does he think so lowly of us? A soul does not…_

"If I may ask?"

"Yes?"

"If Alec has been missing for a month, would he not have already left?"

"He…has his reasons." The smile on his lips was cold and nasty.

Ino nodded. "Thank you master."

XxX

I would really like to know what you guys think. A lot of the next chapter will be focused on Sessh/Rin. **_Also, would you rather have me do shorter chapters but quicker updates?_**

I went through and reread what I've written and I'm surprised any of you are still reading this. Chapter two and three are total crap. I could've done those better for you. They need to be edited. Thank you so much for the tips, reviews, and funny comments. You guys are awesome.

RACE WITH TIME AND WAR copyright © 2005 by 1-Psycho-Kitty. All rights reserved.


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